Vistara Turbulence: 60 Flights Likely to be Cancelled Today Amid Flight Delays, DGCA Seeks Report

New Delhi: After canceling approximately 50 flights on Monday, Vistara is likely to cancel around 60 flights on Tuesday. As per news agency PTI, more flights are expected to be cancelled on Tuesday and the number could go up to 70.

While the airline has reportedly introduced measures to mitigate the situation to address the continuous flight disruptions caused by a shortage of pilots, in view of the various flight disruptions of Vistara due to various cited reasons, including crew unavailability, DGCA has asked the airline to submit daily information and details on the flights that are being cancelled and delayed.

DGCA Issues Guidelines for Vistara Amid Flight Delays, Cancellations

• The measures put in place by the airline include scaling down flight operations and deploying wide-body aircraft on domestic routes to assist stranded passengers.
• Aviation watchdog DGCA has asked Vistara to submit a daily report on flight cancellations as well as delays, and is also monitoring the situation to ensure minimum inconvenience to passengers.
• The airline has also been asked to ensure that the relevant provisions of car section-3, series m, part-iv facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights.
• Additionally, the airline has been asked to comply with advance information, an option of refund, compensation (if applicable) and so on to the affected passengers.
• Additionally, DGCA officials are monitoring the situation to ensure compliance of the guidelines and minimise passenger inconvenience, informed directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA).

“Ministry of Civil Aviation is monitoring the situation of Vistara flight cancellations. However, flight operations are managed by Airlines themselves. Airlines have to comply with DGCA norms to ensure passenger facilitation in case of cancellation or delay of flights," The Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement, adding that while the Ministry of Civil Aviation is monitoring the situation of Vistara flight cancellations. However, flight operations are managed by the airlines themselves. Airlines have to comply with DGCA norms to ensure passenger facilitation in case of cancellation or delay of flights.

The move comes against the backdrop of non-availability of pilots forcing Vistara to cancel a significant number of flights in recent days.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that in view of the various flight disruptions of Vistara, it has asked the airline to submit daily information and details on the flights that are being cancelled and delayed.

The officials of the DGCA are also monitoring the situation to ensure compliance with requirements for providing facilities to passengers in case of flight cancellations and delays.

This is to minimise the inconvenience to passengers.

Vistara, which is in the process of getting merged with Air India, has temporarily decided to cut flights amid crew issues.

What Vistara Said on Flight Disruptions

Vistara said that it was forced to cut a number of flights as it was dealing with a shortage of pilots and crew as a company spokesperson said in a statement, “We have had a significant number of flight cancellations and delays in the past few days due to various reasons including crew unavailability.”

The spokesperson also said that efforts are being made to stabilise the situation and that operations at regular capacity will resume soon.

"We have also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights or accommodate more number of customers, wherever possible. Furthermore, we are offering alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers, as applicable. Once again, we understand that these disruptions have caused immense discomfort to our customers, and sincerely apologise to them for the same. We are working towards stabilizing the situation and will resume operating our regular capacity very soon," the spokesperson said.